The national selection committee will have its task cut out in order to select the final squad for the upcoming Asia Cup. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will have to take a look at all the options before finalizing the Indian squad for the marquee event. One of the main problems for the selection committee will be picking up the all-rounders to make a balanced combination. With Hardik Pandya playing as the pacer all-rounder, dark clouds hover over Shardul Thakur’s selection for the Asia Cup.
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India will take on arch-rivals Pakistan in the opening encounter of the Asia Cup
The proposed 15-members squad combination is expected to consist of seven specialist batters, seven specialist bowlers, and one all-rounder – Hardik Pandya. Among the seven bowlers, the current lot includes four pacers and three spinners. However, this might hamper Shardul’s chances leaving no room for him in the Indian squad.
Selecting Shardul might require sacrificing one specialist bowler including the likes of Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, and Jaydev Unadkat. The automatic inclusions among the pacers would be Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah.
To note, Shardul has been a handy performance for team India across all three formats of the game. Speaking about his numbers in the 50-over format, the 31-year-old has played 38 ODIs scoring 315 runs at a strike rate of above 100. He also has stroked one fifty in the format. With the ball, he has scalped 58 wickets with one five-wicket haul to his name. To note, Shardul has the knack of scalping wickets at crucial junctures but sometimes leaks runs due to his inconsistency with the ball.
